You are warmly invited to
“Now More Than Ever,”
PetroChemWire's FREE seminar in Houston.

With more material all along the US petrochemical value chain now available to the world, experts from PCW – the provider of benchmark olefins and polymers prices for the CME and ICE – will discuss the volatile petrochemicals space, managing price risk, feedstock economics and the impact of new capacities.

You can also network at our cocktail reception
following the presentations.

HOUSTON, March 8, 2018 (PCW) –- The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday ordered the immediate shutdown of Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 1 pipeline, due to the emergence of sinkholes that have exposed the bare pipe in Chester County.

The 70,000 b/d pipe transports ethane and propane from Appalachian production fields to the Marcus Hook Industrial complex. It has been in operation since late 2014. A twin pipeline, the Mariner East 2, is being constructed along the same route and has been plagued by delays due to a multitude of environmental infractions. It is expected to commence service in late 2Q. Construction has apparently halted due to the Wednesday order.

Energy Transfer estimates inspections to take between 10-14 days. Operations can only resume with the PUC’s approval.

The PUC’s inspectors believe the construction of Mariner East 2 resulted in the sinkholes. “Permitting the continued flow of hazardous liquid through the .. pipeline without the proper steps to ensure the integrity of the pipeline could have catastrophic results impacting the public,” according to a PUC filing by the inspectors. --
Samantha Hartke